Colorblindness in Children

Parents will usually suspect that their child has a color vision defect, commonly known as colorblindness, when they start teaching the colors. This generally occurs at about four years old.

A child will usually know four colors between the ages of four and five. If a child doesn’t know the difference between colors at this age, color blindness may the problem, although there are a variety of issues that can be causing the delay.

There are a few questions parents can consider when determining what the problem might be.

·         Can the child distinguish between the primary colors?

·         Does the child recognize pictures in a book?

·         Can the child spell his name?

·         Can the child count to five?

·         Is there a history of problems with color vision in the family?

If the child is having difficulty learning any of these skills, there may be a developmental delay. If he has mastered these skills, color blindness may be an issue.

If there doesn’t appear to be an obvious developmental delay, and colorblindness is suspected, there are some tests that a parent can administer.

There are different forms of color vision defects, but the most common is a difficulty distinguishing reds and greens. In this test, the child is asked to pick out a red crayon from a group that includes green, yellow and orange. Then the child attempts to pick out the green crayon in a group that includes brown, gray and white.

There are also online tests that are designed to screen for colorblindness. Many of them are free, and they offer explanations about what the results indicate.

When all simple possibilities have been ruled out, the child should be taken to an ophthalmologist or optometrist to help determine the exact problem. The specialist will be able to rule out any damage to the eyes and give a definitive diagnosis. If the problem is a color vision defect, there is no cure, but the child can be taught how to live with the condition.

All teachers will need to be informed about the issue because many use colors, especially in the lower grades, to help children learn.

This is a sponsored post from ColorBlindnessFacts.com, the web’s leading resource for anything related to color blindness!